Group submits action plan on homeless issues to City Council

Boulder police Officer Dan Bergh talks to a group of homeless people congregating in the "horseshoe" area of the Boulder Creek Path near Boulder High School during a foot patrol on Tuesday. Advocacy group Boulder Rights Watch would like to see a community response team organized to help ease tensions between police and the homeless. (Mark Leffingwell / Daily Camera)

Action Plan to Address Homeless
Issues in Boulder

Homelessness in Boulder

As Boulder grapples with how best to address homelessness, the Daily Camera looks at what city and community leaders have done so far, and examines some of the proposed solutions.

Info: To read the complete City Council memo on homelessness, go to bit.ly/1pOxdw9.

A community response team that would provide a non-police method of intervening in problematic behaviors, combined with more accountability for Boulder police, could address concerns about behavior in city parks and along the Boulder Creek Path, while still respecting the rights of homeless people, Boulder Rights Watch said as part of a lengthy report to City Council.

Made up of homeless and formerly homeless people and their advocates, Boulder Rights Watch formed to fight a proposed ordinance that would have put new curbs on panhandling in Boulder.

But when that was dropped, members put their efforts into creating a series of recommendations from the perspective of people who were most affected, the homeless themselves.

"The message was going out to the police and the non-police actors that it is open season on these people," said retired attorney Bill Cohen, a member of Boulder Rights Watch. "People were feeling very vulnerable."

Homeless people interviewed by the Daily Camera for this article consistently said that many of Boulder's police officers treat them with respect, and acknowledged that sometimes homeless people act in ways that cause encounters to escalate.

"I've been the victim of needless brutality from the police," said a traveler named Paul. "But I also know that some of us deserve it. They have a tough job."

But they also described officers who approached them in an antagonistic manner or whom they felt harassed them for no reason.

A homeless man named Steve said he thought an officer was reaching out to shake his hand one day on the Pearl Street Mall, but the officer instead snatched his drink out of his hand and sniffed it for alcohol, before reluctantly returning it without a word.

"We expect our officers to treat everyone fairly and equally," he said. "Whether you are homeless or not has no bearing on it, and our officers always have discretion about whether to write tickets. We give multiple warnings. It's people who keep coming back over and over who get the tickets.

1. Establish a daytime storage center for use by the homeless community. The need to carry around large backpacks sets homeless people apart from the rest of the community, makes it harder for them to get jobs and leaves them vulnerable to theft.

2. Create a year-round day center. Bridge House has very limited space. A larger day center would relieve pressure on places like the Boulder Public Library and help more people receive services that would put them on a different path.

3. Address housing for homeless people as part of Boulder's comprehensive housing strategy.

4. Create year-round homeless sheltering capacity. The absence of adequate summer shelter raises costs for the entire community and can have fatal consequences for the homeless.

5. Implement public education to assist the general public to better understand their homeless neighbors.

6. Use two approaches to address the relationships between police officers and the homeless. Create a new Community Response Team resource to attempt to resolve conflict situations in the community, and increase the use of community policing techniques.

7. Revise the police department professional standards review panel. A more transparent complaint process would build trust in the community and help patterns of problem behavior from some officers come to light.

Source: Boulder Rights Watch

"We're certainly not targeting a segment of the population. We are trying to hold people accountable for their behavior."

The 43-page Boulder Rights Watch report — submitted ahead of Tuesday night's City Council study session on homelessness — notes that some officers are better suited, in terms of temperament, to work with the homeless population and recommends that the police department do its best to use those officers for downtown foot patrols.

The group also recommends the creation of community response teams that would work independently from the police, but in cooperation with specially trained liaison officers. Team members would come from the homeless community as well as housed people, and ideally include trained mental health workers.

These teams would patrol areas where homeless people or those perceived to be homeless hang out and respond to non-violent, non-theft situations.

They would advise homeless people of potential law violations and work to defuse potential conflicts.

In situations where a homeless person was going to be arrested, team members would help that person understand what was happening and hopefully help them go into custody more peacefully.

'Things can be better'

The idea is that something that could have been a simple ticket won't turn into charges for obstructing an officer or resisting arrest.

"Particularly people who have mental illness, when police approach them to take them into custody, they freak out," Cohen said. "I have seen that. If there is someone there who is not a policeman, who can work with the person, more often things can be better.

"The person may not have to go to jail."

The Boulder Police Department has a grant to have trained clinicians from Mental Health Partners work out of the police department and ride along with officers during certain shifts and assignments.

Cohen said he was pleased to hear of that effort, and he hopes the community response team is also given serious consideration.

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